EP1393911A1 - Procédé de formage de buses - Google Patents

Procédé de formage de buses Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1393911A1
EP1393911A1 EP03025718A EP03025718A EP1393911A1 EP 1393911 A1 EP1393911 A1 EP 1393911A1 EP 03025718 A EP03025718 A EP 03025718A EP 03025718 A EP03025718 A EP 03025718A EP 1393911 A1 EP1393911 A1 EP 1393911A1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
nozzle
laser beam
nozzle plate
array
sub
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP03025718A
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German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Stephen Temple
Philip Thomas Rumsby
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Xaar Technology Ltd
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Xaar Technology Ltd
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Xaar Technology Ltd filed Critical Xaar Technology Ltd
Publication of EP1393911A1 publication Critical patent/EP1393911A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
    • B23K26/02—Positioning or observing the workpiece, e.g. with respect to the point of impact; Aligning, aiming or focusing the laser beam
    • B23K26/06—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing
    • B23K26/0604—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing by a combination of beams
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
    • B23K26/02—Positioning or observing the workpiece, e.g. with respect to the point of impact; Aligning, aiming or focusing the laser beam
    • B23K26/06—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing
    • B23K26/0604—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing by a combination of beams
    • B23K26/0608—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing by a combination of beams in the same heat affected zone [HAZ]
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
    • B23K26/02—Positioning or observing the workpiece, e.g. with respect to the point of impact; Aligning, aiming or focusing the laser beam
    • B23K26/06—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing
    • B23K26/0604—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing by a combination of beams
    • B23K26/0613—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing by a combination of beams having a common axis
    • B23K26/0617—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing by a combination of beams having a common axis and with spots spaced along the common axis
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
    • B23K26/02—Positioning or observing the workpiece, e.g. with respect to the point of impact; Aligning, aiming or focusing the laser beam
    • B23K26/06—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing
    • B23K26/064—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing by means of optical elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors or prisms
    • B23K26/066—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing by means of optical elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors or prisms by using masks
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
    • B23K26/02—Positioning or observing the workpiece, e.g. with respect to the point of impact; Aligning, aiming or focusing the laser beam
    • B23K26/06—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing
    • B23K26/067—Dividing the beam into multiple beams, e.g. multifocusing
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
    • B23K26/36—Removing material
    • B23K26/38—Removing material by boring or cutting
    • B23K26/382—Removing material by boring or cutting by boring
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
    • B23K26/36—Removing material
    • B23K26/38—Removing material by boring or cutting
    • B23K26/382—Removing material by boring or cutting by boring
    • B23K26/384—Removing material by boring or cutting by boring of specially shaped holes
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
    • B23K26/36—Removing material
    • B23K26/38—Removing material by boring or cutting
    • B23K26/382—Removing material by boring or cutting by boring
    • B23K26/389—Removing material by boring or cutting by boring of fluid openings, e.g. nozzles, jets
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
    • B23K26/36—Removing material
    • B23K26/40—Removing material taking account of the properties of the material involved
    • B23K26/402—Removing material taking account of the properties of the material involved involving non-metallic material, e.g. isolators
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/16—Production of nozzles
    • B41J2/162—Manufacturing of the nozzle plates
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/16—Production of nozzles
    • B41J2/1621—Manufacturing processes
    • B41J2/1632—Manufacturing processes machining
    • B41J2/1634—Manufacturing processes machining laser machining
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K2101/00—Articles made by soldering, welding or cutting
    • B23K2101/18—Sheet panels
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K2103/00—Materials to be soldered, welded or cut
    • B23K2103/30—Organic material
    • B23K2103/42—Plastics
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
    • B23K2103/00—Materials to be soldered, welded or cut
    • B23K2103/50—Inorganic material, e.g. metals, not provided for in B23K2103/02 – B23K2103/26

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for forming a nozzle in a nozzle plate for an ink jet printhead, the nozzle having a nozzle inlet and a nozzle outlet in respective opposite faces of said nozzle plate.
  • W093/15911 concerns methods of forming nozzles in a nozzle plate for an inkjet printhead utilising a high energy beam, in particular the ablation of nozzles in a polymer nozzle plate using an excimer laser.
  • a high energy beam is shaped prior to being directed by a converging lens onto the surface of a nozzle plate where a nozzle is formed.
  • W093/15911 recommends increasing the divergence of the beam incident into the aperture of the mask by passing the beam through a layer such as a ground or etched surface or a thin film containing a medium having suitable light-scattering properties such as a colloid or opalescent material.
  • a layer such as a ground or etched surface or a thin film containing a medium having suitable light-scattering properties such as a colloid or opalescent material.
  • Such a layer may be placed against a convergent lens which is itself located upstream of the mask for the purpose of focusing the beam into the aperture.
  • the divergence of the beam will determine the angle of taper of the nozzle.
  • a second mask can be used to reduce the angle of divergence in one plane of the beam relative to another (both planes containing the beam axis), thereby to obtain a nozzle having a greater nozzle taper in one plane than in another.
  • This will result in a nozzle inlet that is larger in one direction than in another direction perpendicular thereto - W093/15911 points out that this advantageously allows the nozzle ink inlet to match the (generally rectangular) shape of an ink channel in the printhead with which the nozzle will communicate, whilst allowing the nozzle outlet to remain preferably circular.
  • the present invention comprises a method of forming a nozzle in a nozzle plate for an inkjet printhead comprising the steps of forming a nozzle having a nozzle outlet and of subsequently directing a finishing laser beam at the nozzle to remove material by ablation and thereby provide an internal finish.
  • the step of forming the nozzle comprises the step of directing at the nozzle plate a forming laser beam having a power that is less than that of said finishing laser beam.
  • the nozzle tapers from nozzle inlet to nozzle outlet and the finishing laser beam impinges on that face of the nozzle plate in which the nozzle outlet is formed.
  • the step of directing a finishing laser beam at the nozzle occurs after the nozzle plate has been secured in an ink jet printhead.
  • the present invention consists in a method of finishing a nozzle formed in a nozzle plate for an inkjet printhead, comprising directing a high power laser beam at the nozzle to remove material by ablation and thereby provide an internal finish.
  • Figure 1 shows an embodiment of apparatus for carrying out the method according to one aspect of the present invention.
  • Reference Figure 20 designates a nozzle plate in which a nozzle is to be formed.
  • the apparatus 10 comprises a source of a high energy beam such as a UV excimer laser (not shown) which generates a high energy beam 30 which, after having undergone various beam conditioning processes (e.g. collimating, shaping of the beam to fit further optical devices located "downstream"), is directed at an array 40 of optical elements which, in the present example, are cylindrical lenses 45.
  • beam conditioning processes e.g. collimating, shaping of the beam to fit further optical devices located "downstream
  • Such an array of lenses is commonly known as a flyseye lens.
  • the array 40 splits the beam into a corresponding array of sub-beams 50, each sub-beam having a focal point 52.
  • each sub-beam will be divergent with a divergence angle (Aa, Ab in Figure 1) and an origin of divergence at the focal point 52 of the respective lens 45 (note that for the sake of clarity, only outlines of those beams issuing from the outermost lenses of the array 40 have been shown; the beams from lenses nearer the centre of the array will fall within these extremes).
  • range Aa Ab of angles of divergence of each sub-beam emanating from the lenses 45 will be much narrower than the range that would be expected from prior art techniques utilising scattering.
  • the array of sub-beams issuing from the array 40 is passed through a converging lens 60, thereby to recombine the sub-beams at 56.
  • the recombined beam is directed at the aperture 72 of a mask 70, and to this end, the mask is preferably located at a distance from the lens 60 equal to the focal length of the lens.
  • the focal point of the sub-beams 52 is located downstream of the array 40, any arrangement where the focal point of the sub-beams is located before the subsequent mask 70 will suffice: the lenses in the array 40 may for example diverge the incoming beam such that the origin of divergence is located "upstream" of the array 40, for example.
  • the strength of the subsequent converging lens 60 may be chosen such that the sub-beams still recombine.
  • the dimensions of the section of the recombined beam directly prior to impinging the plane of the mask are substantially equal to the dimensions of the aperture in said mask.
  • the recombined beam passing through the aperture (and indicated by 74 in Figure 1) is subsequently guided by means of a further convergent lens 80 onto the surface 22 of the nozzle plate 20 where it ablates the material of the nozzle plate, thereby forming a nozzle.
  • the strength of the lens 80 and the relative positions of the nozzle plate 20 and mask 70 are chosen such that an image of the mask aperture 72, illuminated by the beam 56, is projected onto the surface 22 of the nozzle plate.
  • the nozzle section at the surface 22 and the mask aperture 72 can be seen to be conjugate through the lens 80 and consequently, by changing the size of the aperture 72 the size of the hole formed in the surface 22 (which forms the outlet orifice of the resulting nozzle) can be altered.
  • the sub-beams 74a, 74b making up beam 74 strike the surface 22 of the nozzle plate at an angle, with the result that the section of the hole ablated by the beams increases with the depth of the ablated hole.
  • the resulting nozzle is therefore tapered, with the nozzle section at the "front" surface 22 of the nozzle plate 20 being determined by the mask aperture 72 and the section at the "rear” surface 24 being determined by both the aperture 72 and the angle of the incident beams.
  • the angle of the incident beams is determined both by the strength of the lens 80 and by the angles of divergence present in the beam 74 passing through the aperture 72.
  • the former preferably lies in the range: 0.4 ⁇ numerical aperture ⁇ 0.65 (corresponding to magnification of x25 and x52 respectively).
  • the latter is determined by the strength of the lenses in the array 40 and also the geometry of the array.
  • the section of the recombined beam directly prior to impinging the plane of the mask are substantially equal to the dimensions of the aperture in the mask, as mentioned above, ensures that the high energy beam that finally impinges on the nozzle plate to form a nozzle does not suffer any significant reduction in its divergence - which might result in a corresponding reduction in nozzle taper.
  • the section of the recombined beam will have slightly greater dimensions than the mask aperture: were the recombined beam to be smaller than the mask aperture, then the mask would no longer play any masking function and the image projected onto the front of the nozzle plate being not that of the aperture but that of the flyseye lens.
  • the matching between the dimensions of the aperture and the recombined beam also means that the divergence angles (Ba, Bb in Figure 1) of the sub-beams 74a, 74b making up the recombined beam 74 at a position downstream of the mask 70 correspond to the divergence angles Aa and Ab of the sub-beams 50 upstream of the mask.
  • Figure 2 is a view in a direction Y orthogonal to the direction of viewing X of Figure 1 and illustrates the case where the array 40 has a rectangular geometry, being wider in the X direction than in the Y direction. It can be seen that the angle of divergence of the beams leaving the aperture 72 is correspondingly greater than that shown in Figure 1, as is the angle of taper of the nozzle in this direction and thus the dimension of the nozzle at the "rear" surface of the nozzle plate (indicated by x2 in Figure 2 and greater than distance x1 in Figure 1). The overall shape of the nozzle at the rear surface will be rectangular, in correspondence with the geometry of the array 40.
  • geometry of the array 40 can be altered either by rearranging the location of the lenses in the array or by blocking out some of the lenses of an existing array e.g. by means of a mask placed directly upstream of the array.
  • the individual lenses making up the array 40 each contribute a bundle of diverging beams, each bundle having a section which may be circular or some other shape depending whether the optical elements making up the array are lenses, prisms or otherwise having axi-symmetric or some other shape respectively. Whilst this feature is instrumental in obtaining many of the advantages described in the present application, it nevertheless results in the aforementioned section of the nozzle at the "rear" surface 24 having a corrugated outline. However, where this "rear" section is circular, the corrugations can be avoided by rotating the flyseye lens about its polar axis during the course of the nozzle forming process.
  • An alternative method of influencing the angle of the incident beams to control nozzle taper is to interpose a further mask between the mask 70 and the lens 80.
  • a further mask is designated by reference figure 110, the corresponding aperture by 112. It is evident that the mask 110 blocks out those beams passing through the aperture 72 which have divergence greater than a certain angle, resulting in a nozzle with reduced inlet size x3.
  • the dimensions and shape of the further aperture can be varied to control the dimensions and shape of the shape of the nozzle at the rear surface, as is known from the aforementioned WO-A-93/15911.
  • a further converging (“field") lens can be located directly upstream of the mask aperture 72, as indicated by reference figure 76 in Figure 3. Movement of this lens in its own plane, i.e. parallel to the mask 70, allows the combined diverging sub-beams to be aligned with the mask aperture. Nonalignment results in one side of the beam being obscured more than another which in turn results in one side of the nozzle having a lesser taper than the other. Such asymmetry is undesirable in a nozzle.
  • variable beam attenuator there is located upstream of the flyseye lens a variable beam attenuator (not shown in the figures).
  • a variable beam attenuator (not shown in the figures).
  • Such devices are generally known in the art and for this reason their construction will not be discussed here in any detail.
  • such a device is advantageously employed to control the power of the high energy beam during the nozzle formation process: at the beginning of the nozzle formation process, laser power is held low to minimise damage to the nozzle outlet from exhaust products of the ablation process. Power is then increased as the depth (and section) of the forming nozzle increases.
  • high laser power is employed to give the nozzle a good internal finish and to ensure faithful reproduction of the shape of the nozzle forming beam.
  • the initial rate of increase of laser power is preferably low, even zero, increasing once the forming nozzle has attained a certain depth. Measurement of the depth of the forming nozzle is not necessary: the power of the laser may be controlled as a function of time, the time necessary for a given process to reach a certain depth being readily determinable by experiment.
  • lens 80 a lens comprising two mirrors of the type generally known as a Cassegrain reflective lens.
  • Figure 4a shows the mask 70 and convergent lens 60 having been omitted for the sake of clarity.
  • Figure 4b shows the mirrors 82, 84 in section, from which is clear that the mirrors are axi-symmetric, having reflective surfaces that are surfaces of revolution.
  • Such a lens arrangement has a high magnification (equivalent to a high numerical aperture value), allowing a high degree of angling of the incident beams relative to the axis of the lens (equivalent to a lower angle of incidence between beam and the surface 22 of the nozzle plate 20) and the formation of nozzles of significant taper.
  • Such lenses also exhibit low aberration since the beam does not pass through any lens material but is simply reflected from one surface to another.
  • the reflecting surfaces of such an arrangement are generally located away from the surface of the nozzle plate and are thus less likely to be contaminated by debris generated during the nozzle formation process.
  • the flyseye lens may advantageously be adapted for use with a lens of the type described above by rendering the central lenses of the array inoperative e.g. by removing the lenses or blocking them out as shown in Figure 4. Blocking may be achieved by means of a mask located directly upstream or downstream. The sub-beams from these central lenses might otherwise reflect back into and damage optical elements (even the laser) located upstream. In the embodiment shown, utilising an 6 x 6 array of lenses, the centre four lenses of the array are masked out.
  • Figure 5a shows apparatus that is particularly suited for use in the manufacture of nozzles for inkjet printheads and in particular for use with arrangements described above.
  • the device 120 Located upstream of the flyseye lens, the device 120 comprises an assembly of three reflecting surfaces 121, 122, 123 held fixed relative to one another by means of a housing 124, the assembly being rotatable together about an axis 125, for example in bearings 126 by means of a motor (not shown).
  • the incoming beam 30 is directed along the axis 125, strikes surface 121 and is reflected to surface 122 and back to surface 123 whence it leaves the device, again along the axis 125.
  • the reflecting surfaces 121,122,123 are high reflectance dielectric mirrors.
  • top and bottom sections (30u, 301) of the beam at different rotational angles of the device 120 are illustrated in Figures 6a and 6b.
  • sections 30u and 301 of the beam strike the reflecting surface 121 at different locations along the axis 125 with the result that, following further reflection by surfaces 122 and 123, the initially top and bottom sections 30u and 301 exit the device at the bottom and top of the beam respectively.
  • both bottom and top sections of the beam strike the surface 121 at the same axial location and no inversion of beam sections 30u and 301 occurs.
  • sections 30u and 301 will again strike surface 121 at different locations along the beam axis with the result that inversion will take place.
  • Such a varying intensity does nevertheless have the virtue of having the same average value for all points irradiated by the beam which are located at a radius r from the beam axis. Since beam intensity at a point translates into rate of material removal at the nozzle plate, use of the device described above results in nozzles that are more uniform (at least at a given nozzle radius) than would be obtained using a beam not subject to such conditioning.
  • discrete reflecting surfaces 121, 122 and 123 are particularly appropriate in a device employing a high energy beam: these have the advantage of low aberration when used with high energy beams, as well having lower losses and being more robust than conventional lenses/prisms.
  • high reflectance dielectric mirrors are used.
  • beam homogeniser as are well known in the art, may be used in place of/in addition to the beam conditioning device just described.
  • a further imperfection in real-life optic systems is the presence of stray beams caused by imperfections in the optical elements making up the system: such stray beams, if allowed to hit the nozzle plate, may result in a nozzle that deviates from the ideal.
  • a spatial filter shown by way of example in Figure 3, and comprising a mask 130 placed just in front of the nozzle plate at the point where the beams cross prior to impinging on the nozzle plate.
  • the aperture in the mask is chosen to pass the nozzle-forming beam yet exclude any stray beams failing outside of the nozzle-forming beam. The accuracy of the aperture is therefore crucial.
  • the aperture can be formed by the insitu ablation of a mask blank using the same beam and optics subsequently used for nozzle ablation.
  • the material of the mask blank should of course be chosen such that, unlike the nozzle plate material, it does not ablate significantly under the action of stray beams.
  • a further process step for increasing the quality of the manufactured nozzles is to carry out the ablation process in an atmosphere of Helium or Oxygen.
  • the nozzle plate is placed in a chamber supplied with the appropriate gas and having a window through which the beam is transmitted.
  • Components such as the spatial filter which lie very close to the nozzle plate may also be accommodated in the chamber.
  • Helium used in the chamber acts as a cooling medium, condensing the ablation products before they have the opportunity to damage any other part of the nozzle plate, whilst oxygen used in the chamber reacts with the ablation products, turning them to gas. Both methods result in a cleaner end product
  • the present application is directed in the main to methods of manufacturing nozzles in a nozzle plate of an inkjet printhead.
  • nozzles e.g. 64 or 128.
  • Manufacturing time can obviously be reduced by forming more that one nozzle at a time, these being either nozzles in the same printhead or nozzles belonging to separate printheads.
  • full optical systems of,the type shown in Figures 1 and 2 are not necessarily required for each nozzle to be formed simultaneously: for example, the beam from a single high energy beam source may be used to feed a number of individual optical systems.
  • the beam splitting optics may be inserted between the mask 70 and the convergent lens 80, thus reducing duplication to the convergent lens 80 and any other elements (spatial filter etc.) that might be required downstream thereof.
  • the nozzle plate 22 is made of a material, e.g. polyimide, polycarbonate, polyester, polyetheretherketone or acrylic, that will ablate when irradiated by light from a UV excimer laser. Whilst the process of ablation - which is well known in the context of inkjet printheads as being capable of forming accurate nozzles - is to be preferred, the present invention is not intended to be restricted to this type of high energy beam. Radiation from other types of laser or other sources may be employed as a high energy beam.
  • the present invention is particularly suited to forming tapered nozzles.
  • the broad section of the tapered nozzle serves as the nozzle ink inlet and is connected to an ink channel of the printhead whilst the narrow section of the nozzle serves as the droplet ejection outlet.
  • the Ofront" surface of the nozzle plate in which the outlet is formed may have a low energy, non-wetting coating to prevent ink build-up around the nozzles. In the case where this coating is applied to the nozzle plate before nozzle formation, the beam must break through this coating as well as the nozzle plate material.
  • Nozzles may be formed in the nozzle plate either before or after attachment of the nozzle plate to the printhead (as is known in the art, see for example the aforementioned W093/15911). In both cases, the location of the nozzle relative to the respective channel is important and is facilitated by means for manipulating the nozzle plate/printhead relative to the optical system prior to nozzle formation.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Particle Formation And Scattering Control In Inkjet Printers (AREA)
  • Laser Beam Processing (AREA)
EP03025718A 1996-01-18 1997-01-16 Procédé de formage de buses Withdrawn EP1393911A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GBGB9601049.1A GB9601049D0 (en) 1996-01-18 1996-01-18 Methods of and apparatus for forming nozzles
GB9601049 1996-01-18
EP97900373A EP0960029B1 (fr) 1996-01-18 1997-01-16 Procede et appareil de fa onnage de buses

Related Parent Applications (1)

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GB2429433A (en) * 2005-08-23 2007-02-28 Sii Printek Inc Inkjet head nozzle plate manufacturing method and apparatus
GB2429433B (en) * 2005-08-23 2009-07-22 Sii Printek Inc Ink jet head nozzle plate, manufacturing method and apparatus therefor, ink jet head and ink jet recording apparatus
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CN103118874A (zh) * 2010-08-04 2013-05-22 萨尔技术有限公司 液滴沉积装置及用于制造该装置的方法

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CA2240800A1 (fr) 1997-07-24
WO1997026137A1 (fr) 1997-07-24
EP1151866B1 (fr) 2006-04-19
DE69735729T2 (de) 2007-01-11
JPH11502792A (ja) 1999-03-09
CN1082450C (zh) 2002-04-10
CN1515412A (zh) 2004-07-28
EP0960029B1 (fr) 2003-11-19
CA2240800C (fr) 2005-08-16
US20050206041A1 (en) 2005-09-22
EP1151866A1 (fr) 2001-11-07
GB9601049D0 (en) 1996-03-20
KR100589986B1 (ko) 2006-10-24
US6228311B1 (en) 2001-05-08
US20020003320A1 (en) 2002-01-10
KR19990077309A (ko) 1999-10-25
CN100430229C (zh) 2008-11-05
CN1339360A (zh) 2002-03-13
JP3174580B2 (ja) 2001-06-11
DE69735729D1 (de) 2006-05-24
DE69726316T2 (de) 2004-09-16
US7473387B2 (en) 2009-01-06
DE69726316D1 (de) 2003-12-24
EP0960029A1 (fr) 1999-12-01
KR20060028749A (ko) 2006-03-31
CN1209775A (zh) 1999-03-03

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